Latch bolt structure



Nov. 10, 1959 WADE 2,912,272

LATCH BOLT STRUCTURE Original Filed Max 1, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmvron Harold f," Moe Nov. 10, 1959 H. P. WADE LATCH BOLT STRUCTURE Original Filed May 1, 1952 3 Sheets-$heet 2 INVENTOR. Harold F. We de ATTORNEYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed May 1, 1952 I INVENTOR. lzam/d f? Wade W a W m ...s w H a mo 4 H 3 f m J wi LE n q. "n u: 55 u n u 1 I u m "r .\.l|| m 7 a WVJW E 2,912,272 Patented Nov. 10, 1959 lice United States Patent LATCH BOLT STRUCTURE Harold P. Wade, Lexington, Ky., assignor to The Standard liroducts Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of io Original application May 1', 1952, Serial No, 285,389, now Patent No. 2,756,086, dated July 24, 1956. Db vided and this application July 23, 1956, Serial No. 599,499

2 Claims. (CL 292-340) This invention relates to. hood latches and more particularly, to latches for automobile hoods of the alligator type, wherein the hood covers are hingedly mounted at their rear ends for swinging movement about transverse axes and wherein the latches for such covers are located at the front ends thereof.

This is a divisional application of my copending application Serial No. 285,380, filed May 1, 1952 for Hood Latch, now Patent No. 2,756,086 dated July 24, 1956.

The invention has for its primary object the provision of hood latches which are characterized by their struc tural simplicity, the economy of their manufacture, the ease of assembly of their parts, their strong and sturdy nature, and their operating efficiency.

A further and more specific object of the present invention is the provision of hood latches which include depending latch keeper means carried by the hood covers and latch bolt means carried by stationary parts of the hood for the releasable retention of said latch keeper means, and wherein said latch bolt means and said 00- operating keeper means are so constructed and arranged as to eflec'tively hold the front end portions of the hood coversagainst movement. or play during travel of the automobiles.

A furthertand more specific object of the present in: vention is the provision of hood latches which are selfcentering in operation to thereby automatically center the hood cover, irrespective of alignment variations between the latch bolt means and the cooperating keeper means.

Further objects of the present invention,- and certain of its practical advantages, will be referred to in or will be evident from the following" description of certain embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the ing drawings, wherein 1 Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of an automobile hood, with parts broken away to disclose the latch therefor, the latch being constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the latchv of Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale, and with the lateh bolt means and the latch keeper means in separated relationship;

Fig. 3 is aview similar to Fig. 2, but at right angles thereto; Y

Fig. 4 is a detail cross sectional view of the latch bolt means, on the line 44' of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding toFig. 3-but showing the latch bolt means and the latch keeper means in cooperative, latching relationship;

Fig. 6 is a detail cross sectional view of the latch bolt means and the latch keeper means inv cooperative relationship, theview being on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to the lower part of Fig. 5, but showing: a. modified form of latchrelease means;

Fig; 8 is a side elevat-i'onal View of the parts shown in Fig. 7, as viewed from the left in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of the front end portion of accompany anautomobile, showing the remote control release mechanism of or for the hood latch of Figs. 7 and 8;

Fig. 10 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a hoodlatch embodying the present invention and having a modified form of latch release means;

Fig. 11 is a detail cross sectional view on the line 1111 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a bottom plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a detail view, on anenlarged scale, of certain of the parts of the hood latchof Figs. 10, l1- and 12;and

Fig. 14 is a detail sectional view on the line 14-14 of Fig. 12.

Before the hood latches here illustrated are specifically described, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the particular structural details or theparticular arrangement of parts here shown, as hood latches embodying the present invention may take various other forms. It also is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein used is for purposes of de scription and not of limitation, as the scope of the present invention is denotedby the appended claims. 7

For the disclosure of certain embodiments of the pres ent invention, there is fragmentarily' shown in Fig. 1 an automobile hood 10 of the alligator type, inwhich the hood cover 11 is hinged at its rear end to the au'tomm bile cowl for swinging movement about a transverse axis, with the front end portion of the hood cover being raisedwhen access is desired to the engine compartment within the hood. V

As will hereinafter appear, hood latches embodying the present invention are of the type which include a latch keeper means adapted to be secured to and to depend from the front end of a hood cover, and a latch bolt means adapted to be secured to a stationary part of the hood at the front end thereof for the'releasable re"- Referring first to the embodiment of the invention as' illustratedinFigs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the latch keeper means thereof corn-prises a mounting plate 12 adapted to' be bolted or otherwise rigidly secured, as at 13, to the lower surface of a ledge I4- or the like extending across the hood cover at the front end thereofi Rigidly secured to said mounting plate and depending at right angles therefrom is alatch keeper 15 which may be and here is in the form of a metal strip or strap of suificient thickness to give it the desired strength and rigidity. here shown (see Fig. 2), the upper end portion of the latch keeper islongitudinally slit to provide a pair of legs 16, which: are bent into laterally spaced and generally parallel relationship and which extend through suitable slots in the mounting plate 12 As best shown in Fig. 2, the upper ends of such legs are rigidly secured, by any suitable means, to a sheet metal disc 17 lying with a depression with which the mounting plate 12 is provided and which disc is welded or otherwise rigidly secured the extent to which said coiled spring can be compressed and expanded, the latch keeper is here provided with a longitudinally disposed slot 21 (Fig. 3), and the retainer cup is provided with two convergently related tongues 22 extending into such slot, the tongues 22 being economically formed in the present embodiment of the invention, as integral parts of the bottom wall of the retainer cup. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the coiled spring 19 is normally under sufficient compression to maintain the retainer cup 20 at the lower end of the latch keeper slot 21, and as shown in Fig. 5, said spring is further compressed upon the movement of the hood cover to closed position. As a result, upon the release of the latch keeper 15 from its retention by the hereinafter described latch bolt means, when access is desired to the engine compartment within the hood, the coiled spring 19 is eifective to automatically raise the front end portion of the hood cover a sufiicient distance to enable further raising of the cover to be easily and conveniently manually eflected.

For its releasable retention by the hereinafter described latch bolt means, the latch keeper 15 is provided with a series of ratchet teeth 24 along one side edge wall of its lower end portion, as best shown in Fig. 3, said teeth being inwardly offset with respect to the upper portion of such side edge wall, in the present embodiment of the invention. For guiding purposes, as will hereinafter appear, the opposite side edge wall of the keeper, along the lower end portion thereof, is inwardly beveled, as at 25, with such inwardly beveled side edge wall portion merging with the rounded bottom edge wall 26 of the keeper, as best shown in Fig. 3.

The latch bolt means, for the releasable retention of the latch keeper 15, includes a suitable mounting plate adapted to be bolted or otherwise rigidly secured, as at 28, to a ledge or the like 29 of the hood 10 within the front end portion thereof. In the present embodiment of the invention, and as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, said mounting plate comprises a generally flat, rectangular top portion 30 and a depending housing-forming flange 31 of continuous form and which surrounds a generally rectangular opening 32 with which the mounting plate is provided for the reception of the latch keeper 15 when the hood cover 11 is in closed position. As here shown, the top portion 30 of the mounting plate rests upon the hood ledge or the like 29, which is provided with a suitable opening to receive the depending flange 31 of the mounting plate and also, certain other parts, hereinafter described, of the latch bolt means.

Pivotally mounted within one end portion of the generally rectangular housing formed by the depending, continuous flange 31 of the latch bolt mounting plate is a pawl 35 for cooperative engagement with the ratchet teeth 24 of the latch keeper 15. As here shown, said pawl consists of a rigid metal strap having one end portion thereof bent into circular shape, as at 36, for the reception of a pivot pin 37 extending across said housing and having its ends mounted in apertures in opposed portions of the flange 31 by which said housing is formed, and having its free end portion disposed for cooperative engagement with the latch keeper teeth 24, the end edge 38 of such free end portion preferably being of beveled form, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. To provide a resilient mounting of the pawl 35, and thus to enable it to be self-accommodating with respect to the latch keeper 15 and the ratchet teeth 24 thereof, a bushing 39 of rubber or other elastic material may be interposed between the pivot pin 37 and the circular end portion 36 of the pawl, as best shown in Fig. 4.

To yieldably urge the pawl 35 to swing about its pivot pin 37 in a direction for its releasable retention of the latch keeper 15 when the hood cover 11 is in closed position, a clockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, a coiled tension spring 41 has one of its ends connected to said pawl, 01' to a part connected thereto, and

its other end connected to the latch bolt mounting plate. As here shown, the upper end of said spring is hooked or otherwise suitably connected to a depending lug 42 with which the top portion 30 of said mounting plate is integrally provided, and the lower end of said spring is hooked or otherwise suitably connected to the upper end portion 43 of a pawl release handle 44, the upper end portion of such handle being riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to said pawl. To limit such (clockwise) movement of said pawl, and thereby to enable the spring 41 to normally locate the free end portion of the pawl in position for cooperative engagement with the latch keeper teeth 24 upon the closing of the hood cover ll l, the upper end portion of the pawl release handle 44 is here provided on opposite sides of the pawl with stop lugs 45 for abutting engagement with extensions 46 of the mounting plate housing flange 31. If desired and as here shown, the flange 31 also may be provided with a set of extensions 47 for engagement by said stop lugs 45 in limiting movement of said pawl, and hence of the handle 44 secured thereto, in the opposite or pawl releasing direction, all as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 and as will be readily understood.

As thus far described, it will be evident that the latch keeper mounting plate 12 is to be so located on the hood cover 11, and that the top portion 30 of the latch bolt mounting plate is to be so located in the hood 10, that when the hood cover is swung downwardly into closed position relative to the engine compartment of the hood, the depending keeper bolt 15 will enter the opening 32 of the latch bolt mounting plate and also, of course, the opening of the rectangular housing thereof. As the hood cover reaches closed position, the latch keeper teeth 24 are so located with respect to the latch bolt pawl 35 that such pawl is caused by its spring 41 to firmly but resilient- 1y engage one of said teeth, with the consequent retention of the keeper and hence the retention of the hood cover in closed position. In its downward movement into cooperative latching relationship with the latch bolt pawl 35, the latch keeper 15 is guided by its rounded bottom edge 26 and by its inwardly beveled side edge wall 25 and also, by the rounded upper end portion of that part of the mounting plate housing flange 31 which is in opposing relation to the circular pivoted end portion 36 of the pawl 35. Moreover, because of the resilient mounting of said pawl, any alignment variations between the latch keeper and its cooperative latch bolt that are likely to occur are automatically taken care of, including misalignments in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the hood l0, misalignments transversely thereof, and diagonal misalignments. As best shown in Fig. 6, the pawl 35 has a width but slightly less than that of the housing opening, so that such pawl is effective for engagement with the latch keeper teeth 24, regardless of the position of the latch keeper in the opening 32 of said housing. A further feature of the resilient mounting of the pawl 35 is that it not only compensates for misalignment between the latch bolt and the keeper but it also firmly holds the latch keeper, and hence the hood cover 11, against play or lost motion, as will be evident from Fig. 6. Still another feature of the present hood latch is the provision of a series of latch keeper teeth for latching engagement with the latch bolt pawl 35, as this provides, of course, a series of closed positions in which the hood cover can be held, and thus an automatic and eflective take-up for the cover, as will be readily understood.

To release the latch keeper 15, when access is desired to the engine compartment of the hood, the pawl handle 44 is grasped and moved in a direction to move thepawl 35 from its retaining engagement with the latch keeper teeth 24, or in a direction to the right, Figs. 3 and 5, with access to said handle being aflorded through the grille bars 49, Fig. 1, in the present embodiment of the invention. Upon the release of the latch keeper 15 from its retention by the latch bolt pawl 35, the front end port on of the hood cover is automatically raised a slight distance, such as to that indicated in dot-dash lines, Fig. '1, by the lifting spring 19 which, as shown in Fig. 5,:is under considerable compression, between the latch keeper mounting plate 12 and the top portion 30 of the latch bolt mounting plate, when the hood cover is in closed position.

From such partially raised or elevated position, the hood,

cover can be easily and quickly swung to fully open position, in which it is releasably held by means customarily provided therefor.

For safety purposes, the present hood latch has associated with it a, hook-type catch 51, such as is now in more or less common use. As said safety catch forms no part of the present invention, it will sufli'ce to say that as here shown, the upper end portion of said catch is pivotally mounted, at 52, to a depending lug of the latch keeper mounting plate 12, and that by means of a coiled spring 53 connected to the upper end portion of the catch and to said latch keeper mounting plate, the hook portion of the catch is yieldingly held in a position to underlie the top portion 30 of the. latch bolt mounting p ate. AS a result, the safety catch is automatically effective to limit upward swinging movement of the front, end portion of the hood cover, thus making'it necessary to manually swing the catch out of the way before the hood cover can be appreciably opened. For such swinging movement of the catch, it is provided with a lateral extending lug 55 which can be readily grasped when it is desired to pull the catch to an out-of-the-way position- Instead of providing a handle accessible at the. front of the hood for effecting the release of the latch keeper 15. from its retention by the latch bolt pawl 35, such as. the handle 44 of the embodiment of the invention of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, a flexible pull cable, having an operating knob within the interior of the automobile can be provided, if desired, for the release of'the latch keeper.

Such. a pull cable is shown in Figs. 7, 8'. and 9, wherein the front end of the cable 60. is suitably connected to a bracket 61 riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the pawl 35a and wherein the rear end of the cable is provided with a pull knob 62 adjacent the instrument panel of the vehicle and thus in a position conveniently accessible to the vehicle driver. As will be readily understood, when the cable 60 is pulled rearwardly, the pawl 35a is moved from its retaining engagement with the teeth 24a of the latch keeper 15a, thus releasing the latch and permitting the hood cover 11a, Fig. 9, to be swung to open position. As will be evident from Figs. 7 and 8, the latch thereof is identical with that of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, except for its pawl release means.

Referring now to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. to 14 inclusive, it will be noted that it differs from the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive chiefly in the means by which the latch bolt pawl is releasably held in engagement with, and released from, the latch keeper teeth.

Therefore, as in the latch of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the latch of Figs. 10 to 14 inclusive has a latch keeper means which includes a mounting plate 12b for rigid securement to a part 14b of the hood cover 11b, a latch keeper 15b depending from said mounting plate and provided with ratchet teeth 24b along one side edge wall of its lower end portion, and a coiled compression-spring 19b surrounding said latch keeper for automatically lifting the front end portion of the hood cover a short distance upon the release of the latch keeper, the upper end of said spring bearing against the mounting plate 12b and the lower end of said spring bearing against a retainer cup which has limited slidable movement along said latch keeper.

Further, as in the latch of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the

latch of Figs. 10 to 14 inclusive has a latch bolt means which includes a mounting plate having a top portion 30b and a depending housing forming flange 31b, the top portion of said mounting flange being adapted for rigid securement to a ledge or the like 2% of the hood within the front end portion thereof. Pivotally mounted within said housing, on a pivot pin 37b, is the circular end portion"36b of a pawl 35b for retaining engagement with the ratchet teeth 24b of the latch keeper 15b. As before, a rubber or other elastic bushing 39b may be interposed between the circular end portion 36b of the pawl and its pivot pin 37b, to thereby provide a resilient mounting of thepawl and thereby enable it to be self-accommodating with respect to the latch keeper15b and its ratchet teeth 24b. v

As thus far described, it will be evident that the latch of Figs. I0 to 14 inclusive is substantially identical with the latch of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, although it will be noted from Fig. 10 that the mounting of the latch keeper 15b is. such as to cause it to be rearwardly inclined, a disposition which enables it to better cooperate with the latch bolt pawl 3511, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Referring now to the chief diflerences between the latch of Figs. 10' to 14 inclusive and the latch of Figs. 1' to 6 inclusive, it will be noted that the latch of Figs. 10 to 14 inclusive has a pawl-releasing shaft which includes a pivoted end portion journalled in a pair of spaced lugs 66 depending from and integral with the top position 30bJof the latch bolt mounting plate, a handle-forming free end portion 67 which is here located adjacentthe front end of the hood 10b and conveniently accessible through the space 68 between the grille bars 495, Fig. I0, and an intermediate portion 69 extending, through an elongated slot 70 in the angularly disposed free end portion of a laterally extending arm 71 of a bracket 72 riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the pawl 3515. As best shown in Figs. 10 and 12, the pivoted end portion'65 of the pawl-release shaft isv located at the rear of the mounting plate. housing and extends transversely of the longitudinal axis of the hood; the intermediate portion. 69 of'said shaft is located along-one side of said housing and thus extends forwardly from said pivoted end portion at substantially right angles thereto; and the handles forming free end portion 67 of said handle extends downwardly from said intermediate portion, at substantially right angles thereto, and then forwardly to the front end of the hood.

To normally urge the pawl-release shaft about the axis of its pivoted end portion 65, in a direction to cause the pawl 35b to cooperatively engage the latch keeper teeth 24b when the hood cover 11b is in closed position, a coiled torsional-spring 74 surrounds such pivoted shaft end portion, with one end 75 of said spring having bearing engagement with the adjacent mounting plate lug 66 and the other end of said spring being hooked about and thus having bearing engagement with the intermediate portion 69 of said shaft. Thus, the effect of said spring, acting through said shaft and the bracket arm 71, is to normally urge the pawl 35b in a clockwise direction, Figs. 11 and 13, with the pawl normally occupying the full line position shown in such views for latching cooperation with the latch keeper teeth 24b. To limit such clockwise movement of the pawl 35, the bracket 72 which is secured to said pawl, is provided with a pair of stop lugs 45b for abutting engagement with a pair of extensions 46b of the mounting plate housing flange 31b, Fig. 11, and to limit reverse or keeper releasing movement of said pawl, said housing flange is provided with another pair of extensions 47b for engagement with said bracket stop lugs 45, as in the latch of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive.

To release the pawl 35b from its retaining engagement with the latch keeper teeth 24b, when access is desired to the engine compartment of the hood 10b, it is merely necesary to lift to the dot-dash line position, Fig. 10, the handle-forming front end portion 67 of the pawl release shaft, as this causes the intermediate shaft portion .69 to ride up the inclined slot 70 in the bracket arm 71 and thus swing said arm and the pawl 35b in a counterclockwise, keeper releasing direction, Figs. 11 and 13. Upon such release of the latch keeper 15b, the lift spring 1% automatically effect partial elevation of the front end portion of the hoodcover 11b, with full elevation thereof being thereafter manually possible upon the movement of the safety catch 51b to an outof-the-way position.

Upon such elevation of the hood cover 11b and its depending latch keeper 1517, the latch bolt pawl 35b is automatically returned by the torsion spring '74 to its normal, full line position, Fig. 13, for latching cooperation with the latch keeper 15b when the hood cover is next lowered to its closing position.

To those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates, other features and advantages of hood latches embodying the present invention will be evident. Other embodiments than those here illustrated also will be evident to them, such as embodiments, for example, in which the latch keepers are transversely disposed relative to the longitudinal axes of the hoods and embodiments in which the latch keeper means are carried by the hoods and the cooperating latch bolt means by the hood covers.

WhatIclaim is:

1. In a latch mechanism for the releasable retention of a hood cover member in closed position relative to a hood member and wherein said latch mechanism includes a latch bolt provided with a pivoted pawl and adapted to be secured to one of said members: a keeper structure comprising a generally flat mounting plate provided with two spaced apertures and adapted to be secured to the other of said members, and an elongated generally flat sheet metal keeper extending at right angles to said plate and provided on one edge thereof with a series of ratchet teeth for latching cooperation with the pawl of said latch bolt, the ratchet teeth of said keeper being adjacent one end portion thereof, the other end portion of the keeper being longitudinally split substantially normally to the plane of the keeper to provide two end parts which are spaced on opposite sides of the plane of the keeper and which are secured in the apertures with which the mounting plate is provided.

2. In a latch mechanism for the releasable retention of a hood cover member in closed position relative to a hood member and wherein said latch mechanism includes a latch bolt structure provided with a pivoted pawl and adapted to be secured to one of said members: a keeper structure comprising a generally flat mounting plate adapted to be secured to the other of said members, an elongated keeper having one of its ends secured to said mounting plate and extending at substantially right angles therefrom, said keeper being provided on one longitudinal surface thereof with a series of ratchet teeth for latching cooperation with the pawl of said latch bolt, a lifting spring coiled about said keeper and having one of its ends bearing against said mounting plate, the other end of said spring bearing against an abutment member slidably mounted on said keeper and adapted for engagement with said latch bolt structure, said abutment member having a projection extending into an elongated opening with which the keeper is provided to limit the extent of slidable movement of said abutment member and hence the amount of compression and expansion of said coiled spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 901,400 Vincent Oct. 20, 1908 1,385,638 Miller July 26, 1921 1,703,077 Wethling Feb. 19, 1929 1,740,325 Arnouil Dec. 17, 1929 2,173,765 Potter Sept. 19, 1939 2,199,468 Saunders May 7, 1940 2,236,735 Saunders Apr. 1, 1941 2,492,683 Gland-Mantle Dec. 27, 1949 2,508,090 Beems et al May 16, 1950 2,567,662 Claud-Mantle Sept. 11, 1951 

